
Yesterday, Judge William Alsup, United States District Judge for the Northern District of California, dealt
Psystar a crushing blow in its
ongoing litigation with Apple over whether or not Psystar could market and sell non-Apple computers running modified copies of Apple's operating system. If you're not familiar with the
circus case, I refer you to, well...
grab a coffee and click here. The two companies, embroiled in litigation since early last year, recently completed pre-trial discovery and each
filed cross motions for summary judgment.
Judge Alsup put the ultimate hurt on Psystar when it granted Apple's motion for summary judgment and denied Psystar's motion for the same. In a sweeping
order (courtesy
Groklaw), the court agreed with Apple's take on the case and dismissed all of Psystar's defenses, both on the merits and for having waived and failed to properly plead.
The end result was a dramatic and startling court order in an ongoing series of dramatic legal squabbles between the two companies. And at least one of Psystar's attorneys
saw this coming. The litigation doesn't end here; various issues still remain for trial such as breach of contract and trademark infringement, but Psystar has been gutted. The court is clearly unsympathetic to Psystar's core position and while damages on the copyright issues falling in Apple's favor in the order have not been ruled upon, it would probably behoove Psystar to start looking under the couch cushions for spare change.
A hearing is scheduled for December 14 on the remaining issues and for damages.
Read on for a more detailed analysis of the court's order....
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